Interview with Daniel Holt, May 27, 2021

Interview Summary

Daniel Holt served as a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) volunteer in Korea, 1970-1972, and as an in-country TESOL Advisor, 1973-1976. He was part of the first co-teaching group in Korea, as well as part of the first in-country training effort. Holt was first assigned to a private middle school in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, Korea [now in South Korea]. He states that the key to his early happiness in Korea was his Korean host family, headed by Mr. Kim Yong-hae, founder and principal of Holt’s school, with whom he remains in contact to this day. In 1974, the Ministry of Education invited Holt to join Korean textbook authors to write "Middle School English," the first Korean standardized middle school textbook. Having a single English textbook facilitated the training of volunteers and training of Korean teachers. In 1975, Holt helped create "Methodology for Teachers," a manual that volunteers and co-teachers used for teaching English.

Interview Keyword

Korea (Country of service) 1973-1976 (Date of service) Peace Corps Volunteer Job: Education Korea Japan English (Language) Korean (language) Arabian (language) Language training Training Cultural training Gangwon Province, South Korea Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, South Korea Chuncheon, South Korea South Korea (Country of service)

Interview LC Subject

Peace Corps (U.S.) Peace Corps (U.S.)--Korea Korea Peace Corps (U.S.)--1970-1980 Peace Corps (U.S.)--South Korea South Korea Acculturation Communication and culture Culture Culture shock Intercultural communication Interpersonal communication and culture Interpersonal relations Interpersonal relations and culture Language and culture Language and languages Lifestyles Manners and customs Voluntarism Volunteers

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.